George Fox students recently returned to the daily grind of classes, homework and studying after a long winter break. Here are a few students’ stories of what they did with their month off from classes. While most of us spent our breaks getting caught up with family and friends, and enjoying home cooking a bit too much, these students got out and made the most of their time off.
Senior journalism major Lexie Christopherson traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she had the opportunity to do internships with Save the Children and the International Center for Diarrheol Disease Research, Bangladesh.

“Getting to work in the city and go out into the rural areas of the country showed me a different cultural understanding that I hadn’t seen before. I was immensely impacted by the trip and wish that I could have been there longer. I fell in love with the people and the culture of Bangladesh and have a special place in my heart for them. It was one of the best trips I’ve ever been on.”

Jason Kelly with his new motorcycle

Senior engineering major Jason Kelly spent most of his break hanging out here on campus as one of the on-duty resident assistants.

“I got to go home for a few days for Christmas and New Years, but I did have a pre-New Year’s Eve party with people who were still on campus. Even Ben Kulpa (one of the ACs on campus) came. I also bought a motorcycle and worked on my car.

Brooke Nolte with her winter serve team

Junior nursing major Brooke Nolte spent the last week of her Christmas break on one of the George Fox serve trips.

“I was given the awesome opportunity to spend the last week of Christmas break up in Puyallup, Wash., working in their community. Upon arrival, however, we learned that we would be spending the week in Puyallup and not going to Seattle at all. In Puyallup, we were introduced to an amazing organization called The One Another Foundation. This group introduces people, young and old alike, to organizations and ministries in the area and shows people how they can get involved. They schedule a packed and diverse week for us. We had the pleasure of working with the elderly, the youth, the homeless and low-income, and even pregnant women. It was a very colorful experience with a ton of different opportunities.”

Brice Ezell participated in a debate competition at Technische Universtat in Berlin, Germany.

Junior philosophy and English major Brice Ezell traveled to Berlin, Germany, and represented the George Fox University debate team in an international tournament.

“Stephen Kenyon, my debate partner, and I planned and financed on our own. Although we represented the university while we were there, this was something we had to do on our own given the high cost of attending this tournament. The tournament was held at the Technische Universtat in downtown Berlin. Four hundred teams from 82 countries came together. Stephen and I personally debated schools from Israel, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, England, Australia, Ireland, England, Canada, Turkey, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, Scotland, Japan, Qatar and some teams from the United States as well. Stephen and I ended on 13 points, five shy of the break to elimination rounds. We were still in contest for the break after round seven, which meant we held our own in our first major international competition. We disagreed with some of the judge’s decisions on the last day, but there’s always more than one way to see a debate!”